PUCHITO
by Alfonso Segovia
Summary: Puchito trilogy takes place in a mythical garden, which everybody calls 'The Paradise'. The first novel accounts the amazing adventures of Puchito, a field cricket, whom investigates the mystery of his father's abduction, Bob, by an incredibly blinding bright light that vanished from earth… or did they?


PUCHITO I

KING OF THE GARDENS

Yes, it was a very cold, brutal, burning, freezing, harsh, and unforgettable winter. The heavy snow and hail joined the very strong and whistling wind, and they began to perform a deadly dance, swirling endlessly in fast messy moves. The snow and hail, in a desperate effort to take a rest from the strong push of the tireless wind, stuck on the almost invisible trees' bare branches.

Thunder and lightning, from the grayish dark sky, shook and illuminated the strange dressed in white ghostly surroundings. They were proudly showing how the snow and hail transformed into deadly and dangerous heavy icicles hanging from the ghostly trees' thick branches. They were just waiting for the right moment to ambush and cause harm with the complicity of the not so invisible wind. The snow and hail continue accumulating on the trees' branches, testing their strength.

The lightning kept illuminating the white surroundings. It spotted the crazy wind playing with a defenseless thermostat. The thermostat, partially covered in ice, registered seventeen below zero and it was attached to a twisted rusted metal.

Unexpectedly, the whistling wind made the thermostat spin in the air, and then crashed it against a hollow tree trunk that was rested on the snowy ground. The thermostat, on its twisted, rusted metal, was hitting tirelessly against the hollow trunk's snowy walls, as if asking for entrance urgently.

The wind didn't want to stop its senseless and endless deadly play. It sounded most eerie when passing on the hollow trunk, the thermostat's twisted, rusted metal and the icicles that were hanging heavily from the near by tree's branches.

"I'm afraid!" a worried female voice was heard to say.

"Everything will be fine." a calm male voice assured. "The storm will soon end."

The wind didn't mind their worries, and took their voices far, very far, away.

Suddenly the heavy snow and the icicles, with the help of the strong push of the wind, won the battle against one of the tree's heavy branches. The lightning illuminated the heavy branch as it was breaking with an earsplitting crack. The very large, heavy branch fell rapidly to the ground in the direction of the hollow trunk.

The lightning didn't miss showing where the very large, heavy branch had plunged with such a force against the hollow trunk. The hollow trunk sprung up several feet high from the frozen and snowy ground, blinding even more the storm, and drowning out the male and female screams. The hollow trunk, after a seemingly endless few moments, landed hard in its final rest on the snowy ground but not before smashing the thermostat.

"Oh, no, Bob, my eggs! Our babies!" a female's voice was heard saying in sobbing anguish. "They are all dying!"

"They are freezing quickly and bursting!" Bob's distressed voice echoed in the storm. "My Margaret, hurry up! Let's embrace this one!"

"Our eggs, Bob! Our babies!"

"Shhhh! Let's keep warming this one with our bodies!" Bob advised with a choking voice.

The loud thunder and whistling wind made sure they were heard even in the immensity of the storm.

"Let's call him Puchito." Margaret's voice was heard shivering. "Puchito, a strong soul!"

"Puchito! The soul that can defeat anything in life!" Bob's voice was heard chattering.

"Bob, promise me that we leave with Puchito as soon the winter is over."

Slowly, the wind and snow buried Margaret and Bob's sad voices and what was left of the hollow trunk on the snowy ground.

In the middle of a colossal and beautiful magical garden, a gigantic yellow rock was shining bright as the color of gold with the help of the dying sunrays of that late afternoon. The rock's brilliance deepened when the rays of the sun and the beams of the moon illuminated it day after night and night after day.

The weak sunlight was penetrating the rock's deformed holes that served as windows, showing the long, misshaped walls of the labyrinths. On the walls of the rock's very deep, wide areas, where the sun's rays couldn't reach, the candles' flickering lights showed the many roots that hung from the ceiling.

Margaret, a field cricket, dressed in a long black dress, sat on a white petal serving as a seat. At once, she began to hum, making beautiful and mellow sounds while playing music with the roots.

Bob, Margaret's husband, wearing a tuxedo, passed his foreleg over his thin fuzzy above his mouth as he came out from one of the labyrinths. Then he approached Margaret from behind, and after kissing her on top of the head, he asked, "Are you going to wash the dweller's clothes tomorrow by the waterfall?"

Margaret stopped humming, "I don't know, yet… I have to take care of our only egg."

"I will do that tomorrow, so you can wash the dweller's garments."

"That will be great!"

Bob inhaled the sweet aroma of roses from Margaret's black shoulder length fuzzy, which was shinning in the candle light, as she continued humming.

"Sam, the giant toad, will be here any moment," Bob said, caressing Margaret's mandibles. "I want you to meet him."

Margaret stopped playing music and humming suddenly, very concerned. "Isn't he an insectivore?"

"Insectivore!" Bob answered playfully, and tickling her behind the ear, he added, "He became vegetarian, when a grasshopper's leg stuck inside his throat, and almost choked him."

Margaret saw Bob laughing, and then she shouted, "That isn't funny!"

Bob stopped laughing, and his laughter continued echoing among the long labyrinths. He then kissed Margaret on the palps, and then he asked, "Why is my beautiful wife so serious?"

Margaret shook her head, "I am worried, Bob."

"Why?" Bob held Margaret's jaw.

Margaret got up from the petal, and walked toward a corner adorned with many aromatic white tiger lilies. Then, she pointed to a single egg inserted deep into the soil, looking at her husband very worried. "I am afraid that you won't be here to see the birth of our son, Puchito, Bob."

"Come on, Margaret! Don't say that!" Bob hugged her. "I will take care of Puchito, so you can wash clothes by the waterfall."

Margaret said in a soft voice, "You are not listening to me."

"You know I will be here when our son, Puchito, comes out to the world next week." Bob stood before his wife, as she got closer near the egg. "I know he is going to look as handsome as me, and we will sing together at The Charca Club, and all the other clubs I sung at before."

"Listen! Stay home tonight, with us, Bob!" Margaret shouted, and caressing the egg, she shed a tear, adding, "Remember when our other sons died, because of the frost."

"Margaret, don't remind me… please, don't remind me." Bob held one of Margaret's forelegs and pointed to the egg," the winter is over, and nothing is going to happen to me, or to Puchito."

"Lately," Margaret stood, facing Bob. "I am having nightmares!"

"This night is no different from the others," Bob dried off Margaret's tear. "And you know, as well as I, that I can't break the contract just hours before singing at The Charca Club…besides, we are expecting a lot of tourists in The Paradise."

"I heard some hard kicking coming from the egg, "Margaret said looking at the egg." Those are signs that our Puchito will be born any moment now."

"I told you before, there is still one more week before Puchito comes to the world." Bob sighed deeply, and after exhaling, he added, "Relax, Margaret."

"Please, Bob! Don't ask me why!" Margaret held her husband's forelegs tight, "But I have a bad feeling about tonight… don't go out."

"Come on, Margaret," Bob hugged her. "What could possible go wrong?"

Margaret shook her head. "It is hard to explain."

Bob touched his long antennae with hers. "You have been eating too many vegetables before going to bed, and that is why you are having those nightmares."

"I -"

"Bob! Bob!" The deep calling of Sam at the entrance of the rock echoed inside the labyrinths, "Are you ready?"

Bob kissed Margaret on the palps, and then he whispered, "I must go."

"It is getting late, Bob!" Sam's calls continued echoing.

"I'll be back in a few hours," Bob looked sweetly into his wife's eyes.

Margaret showed her gold half-locket to Bob, in her claw, which she wore close to her heart around her neck, and attached to a thick gold chain. "Promise?"

Bob, pulling his gold half-locket off his shirt, placed it next to Margaret's claw, making a heart-shaped figure. "I promise."

Margaret kissed them and placed them over her thorax, and sighed deeply, feeling her husband's strong embrace. Then, she looked into Bob's green eyes, saying, "I think you are right… I think I am exaggerating."

Bob stepped away from Margaret, and after kissing the egg, he said proudly, "Bye, Puchito."

"Bob, hurry up or I leave without you! The Charca Club's audience is waiting for us!" Sam's voice sounded very commanding.

"I better hurry up before Sam leaves without me." Bob hid his gold half-locket inside his shirt, and looking at his wife, he said softly, "Bye, my Margaret."

"Bob!" Margaret watched her husband rushing out the labyrinths without looking at her. "Have fun!"

"Wait! I am coming, Sam!" Bob shouted.

The candles' dim lights on the walls were shivering when the cold wind began to invade the rock's spaces. Margaret sighed and knelt on the ground next to the egg, and after covering it with baby tiger lilies, she crouched next to it, whispering, "Our son, Puchito."

The stars hid in the dark sky, and the moon began to do the same behind some clouds, as if they were aware that something was going to happen. The weak moonlight fell over the rock, barely making it shine, and on Sam's elongated and wrinkled olive-green muddied skin and clothes.

"Finally! I was ready to leave without you!" Sam, fidgety, watched Bob coming out the rock's entrance, "I thought for a moment that you would never come out!"

"I am sorry, Sam," Bob tapped his friend on the shoulder, "I had to talk to Margaret before -"

Sam lifted and opened one of his enormous forefeet, "I know, Bob! I know! Asking for permission… females!"

Bob smiled at Sam, seeing him wink at him. They ran and hopped away from the rock's entrance toward the dense foliage, and as they went very deep into it, the weak moonlight vanished from the dark and starless sky.

The night was darker than ever before, so dark that the insects and amphibians gathered close to the pond's shore, which they all called 'The Charca Club', unable to move a step without stomping and bumping against one another.

"Don't push me, please!" Shouted Natalie, a beautiful queenly-rich and thin mantis, wearing different colors in her fuzzy, "You must be careful!"

"Oh, I am sorry!" an imperial moth said.

"The show is going to start!" Natalie stood up from a rose's leaf and clapped, watching the fireflies' lights illuminating Bob on an enormous marigold.

Everybody was clapping and making shrill noises, and the whistling in the cold wind and the happy music gave welcome to Bob's singing.

SINGER OF THE NIGHT

I

I like the lights of the night,

They make me a singer.

Scrutinizing stars,

I become a dreamer.

Bob began to dance, while motioning everybody with his forelegs to start dancing.

II

I leave the sorrows to the past.

I am the singer of the night.

Destiny wanted it that way,

Bringing with my song joys and sighs.

Bob clapped and shouted, "All together! Singer of the Night!"

Everyone chanted and danced, and the stars began to adorn the dark sky joining the celebration as Bob continued singing.

III

I fell in love with the night

Ever since I first saw it.

Its strange magic trapped me,

Through my happy song, I joined it.

Perhaps concerned with the coming danger, some shooting stars went across the sky unnoticed by those who were having fun at The Charca Club. The wind joined the music with its whistling, as Bob continued dancing and singing on top of a marigold.

IV

The wind carries my melodies

So day or night won't miss them.

Like the sun, I make the flowers sigh,

Bathing in their perfume… life.

Sam winked at Bob, shouting, "All together! Singer of the Night!"

The dwellers and tourists sung, danced and cheered as the music kept resounding amid the darkness, trying to scare away the hidden danger.

Suddenly, a very bright light appeared from nowhere, crashing immediately into everybody's eyes. It was moving swiftly, making the music stop. The ground began shaking, and the branches cracking, the sounds of the whistling wind mixed with a strange heavy breathing.

"No! No!" Sam screamed out, raising his forefeet and closing his eyes tight.

"Oh!" Natalie fell from the rose's leaf.

Natalie, watching in terror the bright light getting closer and closer, got up quickly from the dusty ground. She ran, and then flew camouflaging behind a dry branch and covered her eyes.

The birds began to fly away afraid. The insects were running for their lives, screaming and jumping, stumbling in a stampede. More branches cracked, and the dense dust lifted from the ground, and joined the whistling cold wind, totally obscuring the surroundings.

"Help me, Sam! Help me! Ah!" Bob screamed, holding tight to the marigold.

The last thing to be heard at The Charca Club was Bob's loud horrifying screams, which blended with the blinding bright light and the dense dust. The light moved away rapidly, disappearing into the dark and dusty night, leaving strange formations on the ground – shoe prints – and the stars behind.

A stone-cold silence invaded The Charca Club, and Sam, coughing and cleaning the dust from his bulging eyes, began to call for his friend, "Bob! Bob! Where are you?"

The wind answered Sam's calls with its cold whistling, and swept the dusty ground with the broken branches, and the shattered marigold. Then, Sam looked at the solitude that was surrounding him, and after touching what was left of the marigold, he looked at the strange formations on the ground, and ran, afraid, into the dense foliage.

Meanwhile, inside the glistening rock, Margaret heard the sound of her egg cracking, and looked at it. She, with astonished tearful eyes, watched a small larva coming out of the egg, crying, with beautiful green eyes and baby fine black fuzzy.

"Puchito! The good soul that can defeat any obstacles has been born! Puchito! " Margaret shouted happily, looking at her surroundings. "Bob! Bob! Puchito has -"

The whistling cold wind was the only answer Margaret heard; she stood there sad for just an instant, missing her husband at that beautiful moment of her life. She quickly wrapped Puchito with small white petals of the tiger lilies, and brought him closer against her thorax.

Suddenly, the noises and screams of the garden's dwellers outside the rock alerted Margaret. She ran quickly toward one of the holes that served as windows, holding Puchito tenderly, and watched all of them rushing by in a stampede.

"Run for your lives! Run! Run!" An earthworm shouted, agitated, while digging on the dry ground.

A long-tailed grass lizard was holding his head, screaming, "The light! The bright light!"

"What a way to treat a tourist!" A male sparrow flew swiftly over the rock, shouting, "I'm out of here!"

"Me, too!" Another followed him.

"I am blind! I am blind!" A bee crashed against one of the gilded rock's exterior walls, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, no!" Margaret saw the bee flying blindly toward the nearby tiger lilies and then shouted, "Bob! Bob!"

Margaret continued shouting in all directions, trying to see her husband among the scared residents, and tourists that were running by the rock's window. Margaret's screams blended with Puchito's sad cry, and her sad tears blended with his. She fell to the floor, exhausted, and after crouching, she held her son against her thorax.

Time has passed since Bob's disappearance from The Charca Club in that magical and beautiful garden. The rock's gilded sheen continued deepening in the sun's rays and the moon's beams, which were illuminating it day after night and night after day.

"Oh, Bob." Margaret said softly, crying. "I miss you so much… oh, Bob."

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Puchito's voice came from the next room.

Margaret, immediately dried off her tears with a white lily petal, and kept completely silent and motionless on her bed made out of pollens. The night continued advancing, and the noises that were coming from the garden began to invade the rock's labyrinths, lulling mother and son's apparent sweet dreams.

The white irises that were surrounding the glistening stone continued blooming with the help of the early sunrays, and their delicate fragrance began to drift through the rock's holes that served as windows. Inside, Margaret and Puchito enjoyed the sweet smell, and as they looked through one of the windows, they wondered at the extent of the paradise that surrounded them.

"The Paradise is beautiful," Margaret, whispered tenderly caressing her son's antennae. "Isn't it, Puchito?"

Puchito breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the morning's flowers, and after exhaling, he answered, "Yes, this place is an oasis." Then, he peered through the window, trying to pierce the foliage with his eyes. "Mommy, when will I be able to go out to the garden?"

Margaret read the anxiety in her son's eyes while replying, "Very soon, Puchito, very soon you will meet The Paradise."

"The Paradise… The Paradise," he muttered with his sweet voice, as his green eyes seemed to melt into the greenery around him.

'The Paradise.' They were right to call it that. It was called The Paradise by all who lived there and enjoyed its beauty daily. Others that dwelled in nearby gardens, called it so as well. Even annual visitors, like the traveler swallows, stopped their fast and frisky flight to visit the vast and beautiful garden. They wet their wings in the water that poured from the Greek statue's urn and plunged into a shell-shaped base. The birds paused to watch as the sun separated the colors of the rainbow, making the beauty of that Eden even more intense.

Near the white marble fountain existed a swimming pool, and next to it, bronze masked fountains resting on tree trunks, and many gargoyles guarding a long and dusty path. A little further, an impressive gazebo, trellis and a bridge, which beautiful designs were surrounded, and protected by the sunset rosebushes' long and very sharp thorns. Behind all of that was a huge shimmering White House, its great arched windows reflected the awesome beauty of the garden, and the bloomed morning glories whose vines surrounded the windows' framework were making it twice as extraordinary. Inside the house lived two humans. Al, a tall slim Englishman man dressed in black tailcoat suit, was a magician by profession, and Celeste, a beautiful freckle-faced girl, with blond long wavy hair, dressed in girly clothes.

"Eleanor," Al murmured with tearful eyes, staring at the photo of a beautiful woman in a silver frame on a small table.

"Where are you, daddy?" Celeste's voice resounded in the big living room.

Al caressed the photo, "I miss you so much." He then walked toward one of the open great arched windows, and after running the long white curtain to the side, he touched the morning glories saying softly, "I remember how much you loved these flowers."

"Daddy, I lost Diablo's food!" Celeste rushed down the stairs, "I can't find it!"

Al pulled out a morning glory, and gazing out at The Paradise, he tossed it toward the Greek statue fountain shaped as a woman, "To you, Eleanor." He closed the window, and his breath mixed with a bitter sob fogged the arched window's glass, while his hands absently stretched his long, black mustache, "You have left us alone."

"Daddy, Diablo is hungry!" Celeste pulled Al's shirt, "Come! Come with me!"

"Wait! Wait, Celeste!" Al wiped off his tears with his hand, turned around and followed his daughter.

Celeste pointed and stared at the glass aquarium on the ebony table, "I lost Diablo's food!"

"Relax, Celeste." Al clapped, making a glass jar appear in one of his hands.

"Ah!" Celeste gasped.

"Go ahead!" Al winked at her, "Feed Diablo."

Celeste hugged him, "Oh, daddy! You are the world's best magician!" She then looked at the picture of the beautiful woman on the small table, saying softly between sobs, "Why don't you bring my Mom back to life… I miss her."

Al bit his lips, and then sadly said, "I wish I had the power to do it, Sweetheart." He looked into Celeste's tearful blue eyes, "Come on, take the jar and feed Diablo."

She took the glass jar from her father's hand, "Have you tried?"

Al nodded, "Even in my dreams, Sweetheart."

Celeste lifted the aquarium's lid, emptied the jar and closed the lid.

Inside the glass aquarium, an oriental cockroach landed hard on top a flat aluminum plate filled of bones and insects' carcasses. He got up dizzy and shaking his head, and while dusting off his clothes, he said, "Where am I?"

Diablo, a black scorpion, with braided, long, black fuzzy, large red pincers and a stinger bright red like blood, moved from a very large hollow log toward the cockroach, shouting, "All right! Food! Delicious Food!"

The oriental cockroach watched Diablo's approach in despair, "Stay away from me!" He then began to show some martial art moves, "Yiia! Kia! Kia! I know karate!"

Diablo stopped advancing, and made sounds in the air with his huge pincers, "I know judo," he mocks a smile, "judon't know what is going to hit you."

And fast as lightning, Diablo lifted the cockroach with his pincers and unloaded his stinger in the cockroach's thorax without pity. With the help of the sunlight that was piercing the great arched windows, Diablo's golden jaw shone when he laughed evilly as the cockroach's scream bounced on the aquarium's glass walls.

CHAPTER 2

Margaret fixed her bed made out of flower pollens and petals. Then she sat on it, opened her gold half-locket and looked at Bob's picture.

With tearful eyes, Margaret caressed her husband's picture, murmuring, "My Bob." She then looked around the bedroom in concern, and got up from the bed calling, "Puchito! Where are you, Puchito?"

Margaret rushed out of her bedroom, calling her son's name. She looked inside Puchito's room, noticing that he wasn't there, and then she peeped everywhere and continued calling Puchito's name inside the other rooms, but there was no answer.

Behind a lily plant, outside the glistening rock, Puchito held a dry dandelion, saying, "This looks very strange." He poked it with one of his claws, watching a few seeds falling gently on the ground. "Wow!"

He blew on the dry flower, and then he laughed, watching the seeds being spread all over the place by the wind. Suddenly, Margaret came out of the rock agitated, looking in all directions

"Puchito! Puchito! Where are you, son?"

Margaret's desperate call alerted Puchito, who stopped laughing, and answered, "Over here, Mommy! Over here!"

Margaret saw her son coming out from behind the lily plant, tossing more of the dry dandelion's seeds into the air.

"Don't scare me that way, Puchito!" Margaret rushed toward him. "You shouldn't be out the house without my supervision!"

"I am sorry, Mommy."

She hugged him, and then whispered into his ear, "Puchito, next time let me know that you are going to be outside the rock, please."

Puchito nodded, and lowering his head, he said in a soft voice, "I am sorry, Mommy."

"Wow!" Margaret looked at Puchito's dirty claws, and then his entire body, "Just look at you! You are a mess!"

Puchito pointed to the nearby dense vegetation, saying, "Let's play over-there, Mommy!"

Margaret shook her head nervously, and pulled her son, "Come on, let's go inside the house."

"But… Mommy!" Puchito resisted, "I want to play some more!"

"But, nothing!" Margaret, noticing that the afternoon was approaching fast, she urged, "Don't argue with me, Puchito!"

"I want -"

"¡Nothing!" Margaret pointed to the rock, "Let's go inside the house so I can give you a good bath!"

Margaret saw Puchito angry, from the corner of her eye, and smiled, as she forced him to walk toward the rock's wide entrance. They went inside, and moments later, the night wrapped everything in The Paradise with its full moon and its millions of stars.

Inside the glistening rock, Margaret and Puchito's laughs floated out of the wide opening in the golden rock. Once free of the rock, the laughs echoed and danced on the soft wind that caressed the garden's foliage.

Margaret stopped laughing, and held a pollen soaked with soap, "Come on, Puchito!"

"No!"

Margarita grabbed her son's foreleg, "Let me bathe and rinse you with this pollen!"

"No!"

She began to struggle with him. "Please, be still!"

"Mommy, it's impossible!"

"Come on, Puchito!"

"You are tickling me, Mommy!"

Puchito, giggling, pushed away the pollen that his mother placed over his head.

"Stay still, son!"

Puchito stopped giggling, "Besides, I can bathe myself… I am not a larva anymore."

"You don't have to tell me that, Puchito," Margaret said sweetly while pinching and tickling her son's abdomen.

"Please, no!" Puchito said with laughter, "Mommy, no!"

With his fine, delicate forelegs, he removed the foam that covered his head and tossed it into the air. The soap bubbles scattered out of the rock, finding their way through the holes, and were carried far away by the whistling, wandering wind.

The fragrant dew of the irises, accompanied by a small waterfall, drifted down from the highest part of the stone. Puchito reached out, taking his mother by surprise, and splashed the fragrant water onto her body.

"Puchito, no!"

"Now you see!" He caressed her jaws mischievously, "You, too, have been perfumed."

Margarita dried the water off her body with her forelegs, "Oh, Puchito!"

"It seems that we have given ourselves the bath of the year, so we will not have to bathe for another year—right, Mommy?"

"So you want to play!" Margaret threw more pollen at his son, "Good! Now what does this feel like?"

They laughed as they struck one another playfully with the pollen. Then, they both sneezed strongly, and continued splashing the perfumed water all over.

Puchito stopped laughing and sneezing, and said aloud, "Enough, Mommy! Enough!"

"That's what I like, Puchito, for you to be very clean before sitting down to eat," Margaret pulled his ear gently.

"Mommy, can you give me a voice lesson before I eat?"

Margaret smiled and nodded. To dry him, she wrapped Puchito's delicate body with rose petals. Then, she gently ran her claws through her son's short, black fuzzy, kissed him on the head and quickly tickled him on the sides of the thorax.

Outside, the echoes of their laughter continued to scatter among the greenery, spreading the sounds of happiness throughout The Paradise on that starry, fresh, late spring night.

Time passed quietly. The full moon began to illuminate the great gilded rock, awakening its magic sparkle and sending gentle moonbeams through the rock's great holes.

In Margaret's bedroom, Puchito, next to his mother, looked at some musical notes written on some leaves, sitting on the bed made of white iris petals.

Margaret kissed Puchito's head, and then she asked, "Ready for your voice lessons, son?"

Puchito nodded, and smiled. He walked in front of her, and started with breathing exercises and abdominal muscles contractions. Margaret smiled, because he looked constipated.

Margaret looked at Puchito as he began to turn red, and she poked Puchito's abdomen with her foreleg. Then, Puchito exhaled completely, and held it. He turned red once again as Margaret giggled.

Margaret stopped giggling, and while messing up her son's wavy fuzzy, she said, "And relax." She gently pulled one of his antennae, suggesting, "Good, now let's work on facial expressions."

"Don't you like my face, Mommy?"

Margaret smiled, and then she said, "Why did you ask me that, son?" She grabbed him by his forelegs, and added sadly, "It reminds me of your father."

Puchito, with a broken voice, said, "My dad."

Margaret composed herself, and looking at his son's green eyes, she advised, "Puchito, singing is about projecting… and I want you to sing, laaaaaaaaaa… and don't forget to project."

Puchito nodded, and after clearing his throat and inhaling, he sang, "laaaaaaaaaaa."

Margaret began to play music with the help of roots hanging from the rock's ceiling, and mimicking Puchito's mouth movements, she nodded.

Moments later, in the dinning room, Margaret was serving chunks of bread and vegetables on a circular stone table, placing them on fresh iris petals. Puchito stopped eating, and looked straight into her dark eyes, "Mommy…"

"What, son?"

"Why did you and my dad name me, Puchito?"

"Because you were our only son that survived." Margaret, with tearful eyes, looked at him, "And for Bob and I, your name means a good soul that can defeat any obstacles in life."

"Thanks for taking care of me, Mommy." Puchito looked at her tenderly, "I love you so much."

The moonbeams that were penetrating one of the rock's holes lit his wet green eyes.

Margaret clutched him against her, kissing his head. "Oh, Puchito, son of my soul." She then whispered to him, "I also love you a lot, a lot, a lot."

"You'll never leave me, right?" He lifted his head to watch her response.

"Why are you asking me that, son?"

"I just wanted to know."

"Will you leave me, son?" Margaret held Puchito's jaw.

Puchito inhaled deeply, and then he answered, "Maybe if I have to look for our happiness."

"Our happiness?" Margaret looked at him in concern. "But I am happy with you, son! What do you mean?"

"Please, Mommy, answer my question."

Margaret smiled, and after kissing him on his claws, she answered, "Never, Puchito, I promise."

Margaret lulled her son between her forelegs, and Puchito sighed with a smile. Then, in a very playful move, he jumped away from her and began to strut, passing his forelegs through his curly fuzzy.

"Just look at me, Mommy!"

"What are you doing?" Margaret asked, placing her forelegs on the side of her abdomen.

"I am so very clean." Puchito inhaled the fragrance of one of his delicate forelegs, and then he yelled, "What am I saying?… I 'm super clean!"

"You see, Puchito," Margaret pointed one of her thin front claws at him, "what a delicious aroma your body has now."

"I like the lilies' aroma a lot!"

"That's the way I always want to see you—very clean."

"I know, I know," he embraced his mother tightly, and then sat down next to her, "but you always tickle me when you bathe me, Mommy."

"I'm not guilty of that, son."

"Yes, you are, Mommy!" Puchito said seriously.

Margaret pinched him on his thorax sides, making him jump and laugh. "You see! You are too ticklish!"

Puchito stopped laughing, and began to flex one of his forelegs. "Mommy, look at my muscles."

"I see!" Margaret touched Puchito's foreleg with her claw, "It feels strong!"

"And I feel very strong, Mommy!"

Margarita pointed toward pieces of bread, and vegetables served on the petals, "Now you must continue to eat so you grow up even stronger, son."

Puchito and Margaret walked to the table, and they began to eat the bread and vegetables. For a moment, they looked at the rock's holes pierced by moonlight, listening in complete silence to the strange noises coming from The Paradise.

Later, after a good dinner, in Margaret's room, Puchito saw his mother walking toward a corner. She reached into it and pulled out carefully some dry petals.

"What are those, Mommy?"

Margaret took note of the letters and musical symbols on the petals, and after sighing, she answered, "Those are the good memories your dad left me." She showed the petals to Puchito, adding, "In each petal he wrote all the love he felt for me, and for you, too, before you were born"

Puchito murmured, "Dad."

Margaret placed the petals on top of the bed, and pulling out some clothes from the corner, she suggested, "Here, I have this for you, son." She saw Puchito approaching, and offered the garment to him. "Put on this white shirt, this black bow tie, and this purple full-tail suit."

Puchito reverently took the clothes in his forelegs, but for a moment his attention remained fixed on the musical notes emblazoned on the petals. "I can sing that!"

"I know you can, son." Margaret helped put on the shirt.

Puchito tried on the jacket, "Where did these clothes come from?" He gazed at his mother, "They are too big for me."

"I know, son, I know." A quiet smile graced her fine palps. "That full tail suit was your dad's favorite."

"My dad's favorite suit?" Puchito blurted out the question.

"Yes, son, that suit belonged to him." Margaret fixed the collar of Puchito's shirt, "He wore it on the nights he went to The Paradise to sing."

Gently, Puchito caressed the suit between his small claws. The purple color of the tail suit, the white shirt, and the black bow tie brought magic to his green eyes, making them spark even more. A moonbeam slipped through one of the holes into the stone, and illuminated him from the tip of his black shoes to the top of his head. He felt as if he were on stage.

"How do I look, Mommy?" He pushed up the jacket's sleeves. "The shoes are the only thing that fit."

"You look divine!" Her voice stuck in her throat.

"Really?"

Margaret nodded, "Puchito, you look just like your dad." She pointed to her son's shoes, "Even down to your tiny feet of your jumping legs."

The moonbeams moved from Puchito's body. Now he could see tears leaving her dark eyes, and he shyly began to said, "Mommy…"

"What, Puchito?" Margaret asked peering serenely into his eyes. For a moment silence filled the rock; it seemed to be eternal. At last she asked again, "What is it, son? I know that you have something on your mind."

"You know?"

Margaret nodded, "There has never been any secrets between us."

Puchito moved his thin forelegs nervously and an anxious smile formed on his palps. "Mommy, tell me about my dad."

Margaret caressed Puchito's short antennae, and smiled. Then she sighed, and closing her eyes, she said, "He was very intelligent, wonderful and handsome! A great, and famous singer, Puchito!"

"Wow! My dad!" Puchito looked proudly at his mother, "A great singer!"

"Indeed, many came from far away to hear him sing," Margaret sighed one more time, and then she continued saying, "I gave him voice lessons."

"Wow! Many came to see him!" Puchito sat next to her. "And you gave him voice lessons?"

Margaret nodded, "That was how I met him."

"Wow!" Puchito held one of his mother's claws.

"He was a good soul, and much loved by everyone in The Paradise." Margaret opened her eyes, and pointed to her son's thorax, "He would have been very proud of you, Puchito."

Puchito leaned his head against Margaret's thorax, "Mommy, what happened to my dad?"

Margaret fixed Puchito's jacket, "I don't know, Puchito." She then pinched him tenderly on one of his antennae, "His disappearance is still a mystery."

"Did you ever look for him?"

Margaret nodded, tears in her eyes, and hugging Puchito, they both shared a sad tear.

She dried off Puchito's tear with her claw, saying, "You too miss him a lot."

Puchito nodded, and looking at her, he said, "Mommy, lately I have had several dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"You know, Mommy… dreams."

"We all dream in life, son." She embraced him tighter, "To dream is part of life."

"It's just that in these dreams..." Puchito tried to hide the dampness in his eyes from his mother. "In my dreams, I always see my dad alone."

"Really?" Margaret passed her claws on her son's wings.

Puchito nodded, "We talk about the things that I've always wanted to do in life."

Margaret smiled and caressed his wavy fuzzy tenderly, and then she said, "Before you were born, when I was waiting for you, he used to imagine what you were going to be like." She sighed, and then she continued saying, "I often dreamed of you two doing many things together…like singing together at The Charca Club."

"I would have loved to meet him," Puchito said to himself, bowing his head gravely.

Margaret lifted his head by the jaw, and looked straight into his eyes. "Come on, Puchito, don't think about that anymore." She blinked her long eyelashes, making him smile. "Tonight, I will take you for a walk through the garden."

"All right, Mommy! I love you so much!" He exclaimed brightly.

Margaret watched his happy expression grow as he began to jump. She followed him, watching him bouncing between the rock's corners until reaching the kitchen.

"Control yourself, Puchito! Control yourself! You'll destroy the house…" Margaret cleared away the bread crumbs, vegetables and iris petals. "Soon you'll have enough time to learn each corner of The Paradise."

"Hooray! Hooray!" Puchito continued jumping.

"Puchito!" Margaret looked at him seriously, "You must promise me one thing."

Puchito stopped jumping. "What, Mommy? What must I promise?"

Margaret took him by the side of his small wings, "When we're outside…" she then arranged the neck of his jacket, "I don't want you stray away from me at any time."

"At any time?" Puchito asked, shaking his head.

"You must always stay by my side, son."

"Why?"

"It's been a long time since I last went out to the garden." She passed her small claws through her son's wavy fuzzy. "I don't know if it has changed since then."

"Mommy, I'll do as you say."

"Promise?" Margaret looked at him in the eyes.

Puchito placed his right claw on the left side of his thorax, "I promise that I'll stay by your side, Mommy."

Margaret smiled, and his answer seemed to calm her. Then, pinching one of his forelegs tenderly, she said, "Before we leave, you must help me tidy up the house."

"Now?"

She fondly grasped one of his antennae, gave him a soft slap on the rear of his abdomen, putting him to work at once. "Let's go, son!"

"Okay, as you wish, Mommy!"

"Ah! And take off your dad's clothes before you stain them," Margaret pointed toward one of the corners of her bedroom. "Place them over there, someday soon you'll be able to wear them well."

"I can't wait, Mommy!" He said happily. "Oh, I cant' wait!"

Puchito carefully folded his dad's clothes, and put them away. Then, he began to read the musical notes written on the petals that were on top of Margaret's bed. His green eyes devoured the meaning of each one and his fine palps formed a smile.

Soon, the house cleaning was complete. Everything looked very well organized and shiny.

Puchito began to fidget as he waited near the great hole that served as the rock's door. "Mommy, hurry up, and don't use so much make-up!"

"Be patient!"

"Let's go!" He was ready to leave. "You are already beautiful!"

"Thanks for the compliment, son." Margaret said, admiring her reflection in the water that was running along one of the walls of her bathroom that was illuminated by the light of a candle. "After all, we have all night to walk through the garden."

"Let's go, Mommy!" Margaret smiled as she colored her palps with the pollen of a red rose, listening to Puchito's voice, "I really mean it…you are already beautiful, Mommy!"

"All right! All right!" Margaret walked out the washroom.

Puchito left the rock, almost dragging his mother behind him. "I want to see all the things that The Paradise has!"

"Calm down, son! Be patient!"

"Wow!" He held his mother's claws firmly as his eyes opened wide with surprise, looking at The Paradise's immense and enigmatic beauty.

Seeing him excited, Margaret asked, "What do you think, son?"

Puchito answered softly, "Everything, everything is so beautiful, Mommy." He unbuttoned his jacket, adding, "It's hot."

"It's nearly summer, Puchito." Margaret pointed to the starry sky, "Soon the rains will come to refresh it all."

"I understand."

Margaret looked at the sky, and after sighing, she said to herself, "if you were just by my side."

They were walking peacefully through the splendid oasis. The moonbeams—it was a brilliant full moon— illuminated everything with intense clarity. Suddenly, Puchito, thrilled by the surroundings, began to jump for joy. As he jumped, the leaves and the colorful flowers gave up their scent. For an instant, he stopped and looked thoughtfully at his mother, who was staring at the immense clear and starry sky.

"Something wrong, Mommy?" Puchito asked worried from a flower.

Margaret kept her eyes on the distant diamonds, asking, "Do you like the stars, Puchito?"

"Yes, Mommy! They are incredible!" Puchito looked at the sky, and smiled.

Margaret followed the trajectory of few shooting stars, and after sighing, she said, "It's been a long time since I last saw the stars. You know, son, many say that when the good die on earth, they become brilliant stars that adorn the sky so they might inspire other good persons to follow them."

The luminous stars in Puchito's eyes were shining. "Everything is so very beautiful, Mommy."

Margaret nodded, "Very beautiful."

Puchito murmured to himself, "One of them is probably my dad."

"You're right, son, perhaps he is above us now, shining on us and taking care of us."

Puchito leapt from a flower to the wide glade where his mother stood. He embraced her, and together they saw that everything that surrounded them had a strange and magical enchantment. He breathed in the oasis's absolute tranquillity and peace. It made him feel deeply happy, so very happy that he began to sing "Let's Dance of Happiness," in a clear and confident voice.

LEST"S DANCE OF HAPPINESS

I

I am one more in this life.

I am another dreamer.

I bring music to all,

And happiness to the soul.

Voices joined in the chorus from behind some bushes, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Puchito smiled, and then he continued singing.

II

Let's dance until dawn,

Bringing love to life.

Let's go forward,

Although we cry.

Once again, the voices joined in chorus, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

The music was exciting, Puchito hugged his mother, and continued the song.

III

Let's all dance!

Let's clap our hands!

Let's move our waists,

Without rest.

Puchito joined the chorus. "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Puchito winked at his mother, and continued singing

IV

Let's dance!

Let's share happiness!

Life isn't life

If we don't live it day and night.

Puchito and Margaret finished the song together, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Without warning, the branches cracked behind them. "Hush, Puchito!" Taking him by a foreleg, she whispered concerned, "Quiet… be very quiet."

The mother's warning arrived too late. Suddenly, through the dense green foliage, yellowish eyes began to shine. It was as if thousands of sparks from vigilant fire stars were staring at them. Once again, the branches cracked behind them, warning them of possible danger.

"What's that noise, Mommy?" Puchito looked at his surroundings.

"Hurry, Puchito. Hurry!" Margaret pulled Puchito to her thorax, protectively, and closed her eyes, whispering, "Stay by my side, son. Don't move, and don't make any noise."

Puchito's eyes darted back and forth in the dark night, trying to discover who was silently spying behind their backs. His mother kept her eyes closed tightly. The branches cracked again, this time louder, closer. The full moon made the stars dancing in the sky, as it crept timidly behind some clouds, barely illuminating the clearing where they stood. Yet, in between some shrubbery, a slowly moving shadow could be seen. It produced a noisy crunch as it moved over the dry leaves resting on the fresh grass.

"I don't like that noise, Mommy."

"Be quiet, son." She opened her eyes slowly and looked carefully at their surroundings.

"Who's there?" Puchito's voice was both nervous and defiant.

"Don't say a word, son." Margaret squinted, trying to see beyond the darkness.

"If you dare do anything to my Mommy!" Puchito showed his claws, "I swear you'll regret it!"

"Be quiet, Puchito." Margaret whispered in his ear.

The entire place was wrapped in a heavy, extended silence. Suddenly, the moonlight in the clearing was disturbed. A gigantic shadow covered the distance. From behind the shrubbery, passing only slightly above their heads, a fine stream of breath streaked through the air.

As Margaret and Puchito closed their eyes in panic, the newcomer fell heavily in front of them. The whistling wind joined the newcomer's heavy breathing, while some birds flew afraid into the deepest part of the garden.

"Ay!" Margaret screamed, holding Puchito tightly.

Puchito, without opening his eyes, shouted, "Don't worry, Mommy, I'll defend you!" He began to fight, throwing blows into the air. "I won't let anybody hurt you!"

The stranger laughed, and his laugh lumbered through the dense greenery of the beautiful courtyard. More birds flew afraid, seeking refuge on the trees' top branches.

The newcomer stopped laughing, and in a serious and very deep voice, he said, "Then, little cricket, you better open your eyes."

Margaret, with her eyes closed, was struggling with Puchito, holding him tight. "Puchito, don't be crazy!"

"¡Yes, Puchito, don't be crazy!" The newcomer pointed to Margaret, "Listen to her."

"Please, stranger!" Margaret hid Puchito behind her back, "Don't listen to him… he is still young!"

"Don't worry, Mommy, I promise, nothing will happen to you!"

"Stay by my side, Puchito, please!"

As Puchito slowly opened his eyes, he peeked from behind Margaret's back. He stopped punching the air, and shouted, "Ah!"

"Ah!" The newcomer imitated Puchito's shout, and then he began to laugh.

The laugh of the newcomer filled the warm night, seeming to multiply among the foliage.

"No, Puchito! No!" Margaret held her son against her.

Puchito stared, open-mouthed and astonished at the newcomer. The moonlight focused on the huge intruder, unmasking him completely. Perplexed, and swallowing hard, Puchito tried to form words, until he finally shouted, "Oh, my! It's a monster, Mommy! A gigantic monster! And it's covered with mud!"

The newcomer stopped laughing, "A monster? And covered in mud!"

Puchito closed his eyes again, and he began to throw blows into the air. "Get out! Get out of here, monster!"

Margaret struggled with her son, "Puchito, please, be quiet!" She, afraid to open her eyes, pleaded, "Please stranger, don't hurt us."

"I would never hurt someone that knows how to sing, and is so brave." The newcomer spoke in a deep and reassuring voice. "Please... don't be frightened. I'm Sam. I, too, live in The Paradise."

"I am afraid, Mommy!" Puchito said, hugging Margaret.

Puchito and Margaret began to slowly open their eyes, but when they saw the newcomer's grotesque figure in front of them; their mouths fell open, amazed that they were still alive.

"Please, tell me, who are you?" Sam insisted.

Puchito and Margaret gazed in amazement at the gigantic and very fat toad. He was thoroughly covered with mud, but in spite of his grotesque looks he continued to watch them with a friendly gaze.

Stammering, Margaret spoke, "I... I am Margaret, and this is Puchito, my son. Forgive us if his singing woke you. We were already on our way home."

"Home!" Puchito exclaimed. "Mommy, we just left home."

A wide smile filled Sam's gigantic mouth. "On the contrary, Margaret, the song did not annoy me at all." The giant toad looked at Puchito, "That's why I came out to meet you, to admire more closely one whose voice is so prodigious."

"Really, Giant Sam!" Puchito said amazed.

Sam nodded, saying, "Puchito, every night, I have an Amateur Night at The Charca Club." He pointed at Puchito's thorax, "You're welcome to sing with the band 'Sounds of Paradise.'"

"Wow!" Puchito looked at Margarita. "Did you hear that, Mommy! I am invited to sing with the band 'Sounds of Paradise!"

Margaret saw Sam focusing on Puchito, and shook her head. "No way!"

Sam cleared his throat, and then said, "But -"

Margaret raised her forelegs, "Giant Sam!" She pointed to Puchito, "He's… he's far too young,

Sam looked and pointed to the sky, "Just watch for a message… I'll let you know, Puchito." He then looked at Margaret, "And please call me 'Sam'."

"Giant Sam, Puchito is too young," Margaret said seriously.

"Nonsense!" Sam tapped gently on Margaret's claws. "And please, I will feel better if you call me 'Sam'."

"Please, Mommy!" Puchito held Margaret by the skirt, "If Sam says that I can sing… he must know… isn't that true, Sam?"

Sam nodded and leaned next to Puchito, "Hum! In fact… you remind me of the long lost friend of mine, and a great singer, named Bob."

"Bob!?" Mother and son exchanged surprised looks as Margaret continued, "Bob was my husband. Puchito's—"

The moon began to illuminate again the clearing, and Margaret noticed surprise and happiness on the giant toad behavior as he snapped his toes.

"Margaret!? Yes, yes… Bob spoke so much about you when we met at The Charca Club."

"So you are 'the vegetarian'… I mean the Sam that used to call for my husband to go singing at nights."

The giant toad nodded, placing his forefoot on his chest, "That's me!"

Margaret looked straight into Sam's bulging eyes. "Did Bob talk about me at The Charca Club."

Sam laughed, and then stopped, answering, "Of course! He used to tell me that you are… well, were the love of his life… ah, what a tragedy."

"Then you know what happened?" Tears came to Margaret's eyes.

Sam placed his gigantic forefoot on Margaret's wings, trying to console her. "Bob was right. On one occasion he told me he was very proud to have met you, and that you were beautiful—What am I saying?" He winked an eye at Puchito, "The most beautiful female cricket in the world!"

Puchito pulled the gigantic toad by the dirty shirt, and looked at him serious. "Sam, you haven't answered my Mommy's question."

"What question, Puchito?"

He looked at Sam, "What happened to my dad?"

"Well… It was all very confusing." Sam hesitated, scratching his head. "Even though some years have passed, what happened is still a topic of conversation. I believe Bob was abducted by… by -"

"By whom!" Puchito and Margaret called at the same time.

Sam looked at them, "By aliens."

"Aliens?" Margaret and Puchito exclaimed simultaneously, placing their claws over their open mouths in amazement.

Sam looked at the starry sky. "Yes, aliens! Bob and I were singing one night at The Charca Club, when a huge bright light came toward us. It blinded us. We were petrified." He began to tremble, looking afraid, and pointing in all directions, adding, "The branches cracked, the ground shook. Everybody was screaming and running by. Suddenly, the light went off. Then, a deep silence, and when I turned to see Bob, he… he was gone…but I saw strange formations on the ground…I think when they landed."

A deep silence was covering that dusty clearing as Margaret and Puchito held claws, keeping their mouths open in shock.

Margaret's sobs broke the deep silence as Puchito hugged her, saying, "I wish I had met my dad." He turned wistfully to watch the brilliant stars in the cloudless sky, where the full moon's beams were softly lighting the warm night, adding in a sweet voice, "My dad."

Standing in the clearing, they could distinguish each one of the thousands of residents, and tourists, which with their happy hustle, they were filling nature and the sky with life.

Puchito grew quieter, and after learning a little more about Sam, he slowly moved away from his mother's side. Soon he was hopping off to play with the fireflies that shone like lanterns between the tree leaves.

"Puchito, come back!" Margaret called, and watching him looking at her, she advised, "Remember what you promised me at home! Don't jump so high, son! You might hurt yourself!"

"Let him go, Margaret. Let him play and make friends." Sam took Margaret by one of her forelegs, "Besides, on this side of The Paradise you could say that it's almost peaceful."

Margaret turned to Sam, asking anxiously, "'Almost peaceful?'…What do you mean, Sam?"

"Well," he scratched his head, a little confused, and then he made quotations with his forefeet, "'Dark Shadow'."

"'Dark Shadow'?" Margaret quoted back with her forelegs.

Sam nodded, "I hope he has already left this side of The Paradise…I don't know too much about him, because I don't go out too often since Bob's disappearance."

"Who is 'Dark Shadow'?" Margaret fidgeted, waiting for a prompt response.

"Oh, Dark Shadow!" Sam tried to stay calm and not add to her worry. "Dark Shadow's just a bat."

"A bat!" Margaret, afraid, placed her forelegs over her head.

"Calm down, Margaret." Sam tapped her on her claw, "Dark Shadow is almost blind and mute. He appeared a few months ago around this courtyard. He terrifies us all with his yells."

"And you are telling me to calm down!"

Sam nodded, "When visitors, here on vacation from other places, hear him at night or see him flying, they become frightened and leave the following day." He looked at the sky, adding in a calm voice, "Some say Dark Shadow has murdered several of our dwellers, but I'm not sure this is true… don't you worry, Margaret."

Margaret looked toward the flowering shrubbery where Puchito was playing, and asked in a shaky voice, "Why don't you want me to worry?"

"Because it's been a long time since we last saw him." Trying to calm her, Sam continued, "Dark Shadow thinks that this oasis is uninhabited."

"Why?"

"We used to hide and keep quiet when we saw him around." Sam pointed at the deepest part of the forest, "And then, one day, he flew away, frustrated."

The moon's soft beams gently lit the beauty of the clearing. They also softly lit the colorful sunflowers where Puchito was playing with his new friends.

Margaret looked again at her son, and the preoccupation in her voice was clear. "But Sam, it means that there is still danger and the possibility that the bat may reappear here."

"I don't think so, Margaret." He tempered the serious tone with a happy expression. "Don't worry, as I mentioned, Dark Shadow has not been seen around here for a long time. I think he got tired of patrolling this area, and took his flight some place else."

Margaret smiled, but her anxiety and instinct could be seen in her beautiful dark eyes and forelegs, which moved nervously. She, from the wide clearing, was trying to distinguish Puchito from those who were surrounding him and sitting on mushrooms.

"Margaret! Margaret, is that you?" A voice called from a beautiful, flower-filled sunset rosebush.

Margaret and Sam turned in the direction of the voice, trying to see who was coming down the thorny sunset rosebush.

"Who is it?" Margaret asked.

As Margaret peered at one of the branches of a rose plant, her anxiety lessened. She saw a beautiful queenly rich and thin mantis, moving down slowly through a rosebush's leaves and long thorns.

"It's me, Natalie!"

"Natalie!" Margaret's eyes opened in surprise, "It has been such a long time!"

"I'm so happy to see you!" Natalie lifted the dust from the ground as she rushed toward Margaret, "You look fabulous!"

"You, too!" Margaret hugged Natalie.

Natalie touched Margaret's fuzzy, "I miss coloring your hair, and Bob's!"

"That's right! He loved the way you colored his hair!" Margaret said brightly, and then added in a sad whisper, "My Bob."

Natalie bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Margaret."

Sam cleared his throat, and pointing to Margaret, he said, "She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she, Natalie?"

"I can't agree more!" Natalie answered very happy.

Sam pointed near the petunias, where Puchito was playing, "Her son inherited it, and his dad's voice as well."

Natalie held Margaret by one foreleg, "No doubt!"

"I would've liked for you to have heard him just a few moments ago, Natalie." Sam looked proudly at Margaret, "The melody—his voice—angelic. It was like a clear stream of water running quietly toward the sea; like a magic flute beginning to awake the flowers' colors again here in The Paradise."

"Come on, Sam!" Margaret blushed. "Stop it; really, that's enough flattery!"

"Margaret, Margaret, Margaret." Sam looked in Puchito's direction by the sunflowers, "I know about music and singing. I was educated by the best."

"That is true!" Natalie assured.

"What's more, Margaret!" Sam said proudly, "Your husband, Bob, made a professional and perfectionist out of me!"

"Are you listening to him, friend?" Natalie winked at Margaret.

"Hum hum," Margaret grumbled playfully, nodding.

Sam saw them giggling, "Believe me when I tell you that Puchito has a lot of talent!" He nodded at Margaret, "He has an extraordinary voice— it takes only a few seconds to know that!"

Copyright ã 1998. (Txu847-471) Alfonso Segovia. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner including electronic and computer media whatsoever without express written permission from Alfonso Segovia.

PUCHITO I

KING OF THE GARDENS

Yes, it was a very cold, brutal, burning, freezing, harsh, and unforgettable winter. The heavy snow and hail joined the very strong and whistling wind, and they began to perform a deadly dance, swirling endlessly in fast messy moves. The snow and hail, in a desperate effort to take a rest from the strong push of the tireless wind, stuck on the almost invisible trees' bare branches.

Thunder and lightning, from the grayish dark sky, shook and illuminated the strange dressed in white ghostly surroundings. They were proudly showing how the snow and hail transformed into deadly and dangerous heavy icicles hanging from the ghostly trees' thick branches. They were just waiting for the right moment to ambush and cause harm with the complicity of the not so invisible wind. The snow and hail continue accumulating on the trees' branches, testing their strength.

The lightning kept illuminating the white surroundings. It spotted the crazy wind playing with a defenseless thermostat. The thermostat, partially covered in ice, registered seventeen below zero and it was attached to a twisted rusted metal.

Unexpectedly, the whistling wind made the thermostat spin in the air, and then crashed it against a hollow tree trunk that was rested on the snowy ground. The thermostat, on its twisted, rusted metal, was hitting tirelessly against the hollow trunk's snowy walls, as if asking for entrance urgently.

The wind didn't want to stop its senseless and endless deadly play. It sounded most eerie when passing on the hollow trunk, the thermostat's twisted, rusted metal and the icicles that were hanging heavily from the near by tree's branches.

"I'm afraid!" a worried female voice was heard to say.

"Everything will be fine." a calm male voice assured. "The storm will soon end."

The wind didn't mind their worries, and took their voices far, very far, away.

Suddenly the heavy snow and the icicles, with the help of the strong push of the wind, won the battle against one of the tree's heavy branches. The lightning illuminated the heavy branch as it was breaking with an earsplitting crack. The very large, heavy branch fell rapidly to the ground in the direction of the hollow trunk.

The lightning didn't miss showing where the very large, heavy branch had plunged with such a force against the hollow trunk. The hollow trunk sprung up several feet high from the frozen and snowy ground, blinding even more the storm, and drowning out the male and female screams. The hollow trunk, after a seemingly endless few moments, landed hard in its final rest on the snowy ground but not before smashing the thermostat.

"Oh, no, Bob, my eggs! Our babies!" a female's voice was heard saying in sobbing anguish. "They are all dying!"

"They are freezing quickly and bursting!" Bob's distressed voice echoed in the storm. "My Margaret, hurry up! Let's embrace this one!"

"Our eggs, Bob! Our babies!"

"Shhhh! Let's keep warming this one with our bodies!" Bob advised with a choking voice.

The loud thunder and whistling wind made sure they were heard even in the immensity of the storm.

"Let's call him Puchito." Margaret's voice was heard shivering. "Puchito, a strong soul!"

"Puchito! The soul that can defeat anything in life!" Bob's voice was heard chattering.

"Bob, promise me that we leave with Puchito as soon the winter is over."

Slowly, the wind and snow buried Margaret and Bob's sad voices and what was left of the hollow trunk on the snowy ground.

In the middle of a colossal and beautiful magical garden, a gigantic yellow rock was shining bright as the color of gold with the help of the dying sunrays of that late afternoon. The rock's brilliance deepened when the rays of the sun and the beams of the moon illuminated it day after night and night after day.

The weak sunlight was penetrating the rock's deformed holes that served as windows, showing the long, misshaped walls of the labyrinths. On the walls of the rock's very deep, wide areas, where the sun's rays couldn't reach, the candles' flickering lights showed the many roots that hung from the ceiling.

Margaret, a field cricket, dressed in a long black dress, sat on a white petal serving as a seat. At once, she began to hum, making beautiful and mellow sounds while playing music with the roots.

Bob, Margaret's husband, wearing a tuxedo, passed his foreleg over his thin fuzzy above his mouth as he came out from one of the labyrinths. Then he approached Margaret from behind, and after kissing her on top of the head, he asked, "Are you going to wash the dweller's clothes tomorrow by the waterfall?"

Margaret stopped humming, "I don't know, yet… I have to take care of our only egg."

"I will do that tomorrow, so you can wash the dweller's garments."

"That will be great!"

Bob inhaled the sweet aroma of roses from Margaret's black shoulder length fuzzy, which was shinning in the candle light, as she continued humming.

"Sam, the giant toad, will be here any moment," Bob said, caressing Margaret's mandibles. "I want you to meet him."

Margaret stopped playing music and humming suddenly, very concerned. "Isn't he an insectivore?"

"Insectivore!" Bob answered playfully, and tickling her behind the ear, he added, "He became vegetarian, when a grasshopper's leg stuck inside his throat, and almost choked him."

Margaret saw Bob laughing, and then she shouted, "That isn't funny!"

Bob stopped laughing, and his laughter continued echoing among the long labyrinths. He then kissed Margaret on the palps, and then he asked, "Why is my beautiful wife so serious?"

Margaret shook her head, "I am worried, Bob."

"Why?" Bob held Margaret's jaw.

Margaret got up from the petal, and walked toward a corner adorned with many aromatic white tiger lilies. Then, she pointed to a single egg inserted deep into the soil, looking at her husband very worried. "I am afraid that you won't be here to see the birth of our son, Puchito, Bob."

"Come on, Margaret! Don't say that!" Bob hugged her. "I will take care of Puchito, so you can wash clothes by the waterfall."

Margaret said in a soft voice, "You are not listening to me."

"You know I will be here when our son, Puchito, comes out to the world next week." Bob stood before his wife, as she got closer near the egg. "I know he is going to look as handsome as me, and we will sing together at The Charca Club, and all the other clubs I sung at before."

"Listen! Stay home tonight, with us, Bob!" Margaret shouted, and caressing the egg, she shed a tear, adding, "Remember when our other sons died, because of the frost."

"Margaret, don't remind me… please, don't remind me." Bob held one of Margaret's forelegs and pointed to the egg," the winter is over, and nothing is going to happen to me, or to Puchito."

"Lately," Margaret stood, facing Bob. "I am having nightmares!"

"This night is no different from the others," Bob dried off Margaret's tear. "And you know, as well as I, that I can't break the contract just hours before singing at The Charca Club…besides, we are expecting a lot of tourists in The Paradise."

"I heard some hard kicking coming from the egg, "Margaret said looking at the egg." Those are signs that our Puchito will be born any moment now."

"I told you before, there is still one more week before Puchito comes to the world." Bob sighed deeply, and after exhaling, he added, "Relax, Margaret."

"Please, Bob! Don't ask me why!" Margaret held her husband's forelegs tight, "But I have a bad feeling about tonight… don't go out."

"Come on, Margaret," Bob hugged her. "What could possible go wrong?"

Margaret shook her head. "It is hard to explain."

Bob touched his long antennae with hers. "You have been eating too many vegetables before going to bed, and that is why you are having those nightmares."

"I -"

"Bob! Bob!" The deep calling of Sam at the entrance of the rock echoed inside the labyrinths, "Are you ready?"

Bob kissed Margaret on the palps, and then he whispered, "I must go."

"It is getting late, Bob!" Sam's calls continued echoing.

"I'll be back in a few hours," Bob looked sweetly into his wife's eyes.

Margaret showed her gold half-locket to Bob, in her claw, which she wore close to her heart around her neck, and attached to a thick gold chain. "Promise?"

Bob, pulling his gold half-locket off his shirt, placed it next to Margaret's claw, making a heart-shaped figure. "I promise."

Margaret kissed them and placed them over her thorax, and sighed deeply, feeling her husband's strong embrace. Then, she looked into Bob's green eyes, saying, "I think you are right… I think I am exaggerating."

Bob stepped away from Margaret, and after kissing the egg, he said proudly, "Bye, Puchito."

"Bob, hurry up or I leave without you! The Charca Club's audience is waiting for us!" Sam's voice sounded very commanding.

"I better hurry up before Sam leaves without me." Bob hid his gold half-locket inside his shirt, and looking at his wife, he said softly, "Bye, my Margaret."

"Bob!" Margaret watched her husband rushing out the labyrinths without looking at her. "Have fun!"

"Wait! I am coming, Sam!" Bob shouted.

The candles' dim lights on the walls were shivering when the cold wind began to invade the rock's spaces. Margaret sighed and knelt on the ground next to the egg, and after covering it with baby tiger lilies, she crouched next to it, whispering, "Our son, Puchito."

The stars hid in the dark sky, and the moon began to do the same behind some clouds, as if they were aware that something was going to happen. The weak moonlight fell over the rock, barely making it shine, and on Sam's elongated and wrinkled olive-green muddied skin and clothes.

"Finally! I was ready to leave without you!" Sam, fidgety, watched Bob coming out the rock's entrance, "I thought for a moment that you would never come out!"

"I am sorry, Sam," Bob tapped his friend on the shoulder, "I had to talk to Margaret before -"

Sam lifted and opened one of his enormous forefeet, "I know, Bob! I know! Asking for permission… females!"

Bob smiled at Sam, seeing him wink at him. They ran and hopped away from the rock's entrance toward the dense foliage, and as they went very deep into it, the weak moonlight vanished from the dark and starless sky.

The night was darker than ever before, so dark that the insects and amphibians gathered close to the pond's shore, which they all called 'The Charca Club', unable to move a step without stomping and bumping against one another.

"Don't push me, please!" Shouted Natalie, a beautiful queenly-rich and thin mantis, wearing different colors in her fuzzy, "You must be careful!"

"Oh, I am sorry!" an imperial moth said.

"The show is going to start!" Natalie stood up from a rose's leaf and clapped, watching the fireflies' lights illuminating Bob on an enormous marigold.

Everybody was clapping and making shrill noises, and the whistling in the cold wind and the happy music gave welcome to Bob's singing.

SINGER OF THE NIGHT

I

I like the lights of the night,

They make me a singer.

Scrutinizing stars,

I become a dreamer.

Bob began to dance, while motioning everybody with his forelegs to start dancing.

II

I leave the sorrows to the past.

I am the singer of the night.

Destiny wanted it that way,

Bringing with my song joys and sighs.

Bob clapped and shouted, "All together! Singer of the Night!"

Everyone chanted and danced, and the stars began to adorn the dark sky joining the celebration as Bob continued singing.

III

I fell in love with the night

Ever since I first saw it.

Its strange magic trapped me,

Through my happy song, I joined it.

Perhaps concerned with the coming danger, some shooting stars went across the sky unnoticed by those who were having fun at The Charca Club. The wind joined the music with its whistling, as Bob continued dancing and singing on top of a marigold.

IV

The wind carries my melodies

So day or night won't miss them.

Like the sun, I make the flowers sigh,

Bathing in their perfume… life.

Sam winked at Bob, shouting, "All together! Singer of the Night!"

The dwellers and tourists sung, danced and cheered as the music kept resounding amid the darkness, trying to scare away the hidden danger.

Suddenly, a very bright light appeared from nowhere, crashing immediately into everybody's eyes. It was moving swiftly, making the music stop. The ground began shaking, and the branches cracking, the sounds of the whistling wind mixed with a strange heavy breathing.

"No! No!" Sam screamed out, raising his forefeet and closing his eyes tight.

"Oh!" Natalie fell from the rose's leaf.

Natalie, watching in terror the bright light getting closer and closer, got up quickly from the dusty ground. She ran, and then flew camouflaging behind a dry branch and covered her eyes.

The birds began to fly away afraid. The insects were running for their lives, screaming and jumping, stumbling in a stampede. More branches cracked, and the dense dust lifted from the ground, and joined the whistling cold wind, totally obscuring the surroundings.

"Help me, Sam! Help me! Ah!" Bob screamed, holding tight to the marigold.

The last thing to be heard at The Charca Club was Bob's loud horrifying screams, which blended with the blinding bright light and the dense dust. The light moved away rapidly, disappearing into the dark and dusty night, leaving strange formations on the ground – shoe prints – and the stars behind.

A stone-cold silence invaded The Charca Club, and Sam, coughing and cleaning the dust from his bulging eyes, began to call for his friend, "Bob! Bob! Where are you?"

The wind answered Sam's calls with its cold whistling, and swept the dusty ground with the broken branches, and the shattered marigold. Then, Sam looked at the solitude that was surrounding him, and after touching what was left of the marigold, he looked at the strange formations on the ground, and ran, afraid, into the dense foliage.

Meanwhile, inside the glistening rock, Margaret heard the sound of her egg cracking, and looked at it. She, with astonished tearful eyes, watched a small larva coming out of the egg, crying, with beautiful green eyes and baby fine black fuzzy.

"Puchito! The good soul that can defeat any obstacles has been born! Puchito! " Margaret shouted happily, looking at her surroundings. "Bob! Bob! Puchito has -"

The whistling cold wind was the only answer Margaret heard; she stood there sad for just an instant, missing her husband at that beautiful moment of her life. She quickly wrapped Puchito with small white petals of the tiger lilies, and brought him closer against her thorax.

Suddenly, the noises and screams of the garden's dwellers outside the rock alerted Margaret. She ran quickly toward one of the holes that served as windows, holding Puchito tenderly, and watched all of them rushing by in a stampede.

"Run for your lives! Run! Run!" An earthworm shouted, agitated, while digging on the dry ground.

A long-tailed grass lizard was holding his head, screaming, "The light! The bright light!"

"What a way to treat a tourist!" A male sparrow flew swiftly over the rock, shouting, "I'm out of here!"

"Me, too!" Another followed him.

"I am blind! I am blind!" A bee crashed against one of the gilded rock's exterior walls, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, no!" Margaret saw the bee flying blindly toward the nearby tiger lilies and then shouted, "Bob! Bob!"

Margaret continued shouting in all directions, trying to see her husband among the scared residents, and tourists that were running by the rock's window. Margaret's screams blended with Puchito's sad cry, and her sad tears blended with his. She fell to the floor, exhausted, and after crouching, she held her son against her thorax.

Time has passed since Bob's disappearance from The Charca Club in that magical and beautiful garden. The rock's gilded sheen continued deepening in the sun's rays and the moon's beams, which were illuminating it day after night and night after day.

"Oh, Bob." Margaret said softly, crying. "I miss you so much… oh, Bob."

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Puchito's voice came from the next room.

Margaret, immediately dried off her tears with a white lily petal, and kept completely silent and motionless on her bed made out of pollens. The night continued advancing, and the noises that were coming from the garden began to invade the rock's labyrinths, lulling mother and son's apparent sweet dreams.

The white irises that were surrounding the glistening stone continued blooming with the help of the early sunrays, and their delicate fragrance began to drift through the rock's holes that served as windows. Inside, Margaret and Puchito enjoyed the sweet smell, and as they looked through one of the windows, they wondered at the extent of the paradise that surrounded them.

"The Paradise is beautiful," Margaret, whispered tenderly caressing her son's antennae. "Isn't it, Puchito?"

Puchito breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the morning's flowers, and after exhaling, he answered, "Yes, this place is an oasis." Then, he peered through the window, trying to pierce the foliage with his eyes. "Mommy, when will I be able to go out to the garden?"

Margaret read the anxiety in her son's eyes while replying, "Very soon, Puchito, very soon you will meet The Paradise."

"The Paradise… The Paradise," he muttered with his sweet voice, as his green eyes seemed to melt into the greenery around him.

'The Paradise.' They were right to call it that. It was called The Paradise by all who lived there and enjoyed its beauty daily. Others that dwelled in nearby gardens, called it so as well. Even annual visitors, like the traveler swallows, stopped their fast and frisky flight to visit the vast and beautiful garden. They wet their wings in the water that poured from the Greek statue's urn and plunged into a shell-shaped base. The birds paused to watch as the sun separated the colors of the rainbow, making the beauty of that Eden even more intense.

Near the white marble fountain existed a swimming pool, and next to it, bronze masked fountains resting on tree trunks, and many gargoyles guarding a long and dusty path. A little further, an impressive gazebo, trellis and a bridge, which beautiful designs were surrounded, and protected by the sunset rosebushes' long and very sharp thorns. Behind all of that was a huge shimmering White House, its great arched windows reflected the awesome beauty of the garden, and the bloomed morning glories whose vines surrounded the windows' framework were making it twice as extraordinary. Inside the house lived two humans. Al, a tall slim Englishman man dressed in black tailcoat suit, was a magician by profession, and Celeste, a beautiful freckle-faced girl, with blond long wavy hair, dressed in girly clothes.

"Eleanor," Al murmured with tearful eyes, staring at the photo of a beautiful woman in a silver frame on a small table.

"Where are you, daddy?" Celeste's voice resounded in the big living room.

Al caressed the photo, "I miss you so much." He then walked toward one of the open great arched windows, and after running the long white curtain to the side, he touched the morning glories saying softly, "I remember how much you loved these flowers."

"Daddy, I lost Diablo's food!" Celeste rushed down the stairs, "I can't find it!"

Al pulled out a morning glory, and gazing out at The Paradise, he tossed it toward the Greek statue fountain shaped as a woman, "To you, Eleanor." He closed the window, and his breath mixed with a bitter sob fogged the arched window's glass, while his hands absently stretched his long, black mustache, "You have left us alone."

"Daddy, Diablo is hungry!" Celeste pulled Al's shirt, "Come! Come with me!"

"Wait! Wait, Celeste!" Al wiped off his tears with his hand, turned around and followed his daughter.

Celeste pointed and stared at the glass aquarium on the ebony table, "I lost Diablo's food!"

"Relax, Celeste." Al clapped, making a glass jar appear in one of his hands.

"Ah!" Celeste gasped.

"Go ahead!" Al winked at her, "Feed Diablo."

Celeste hugged him, "Oh, daddy! You are the world's best magician!" She then looked at the picture of the beautiful woman on the small table, saying softly between sobs, "Why don't you bring my Mom back to life… I miss her."

Al bit his lips, and then sadly said, "I wish I had the power to do it, Sweetheart." He looked into Celeste's tearful blue eyes, "Come on, take the jar and feed Diablo."

She took the glass jar from her father's hand, "Have you tried?"

Al nodded, "Even in my dreams, Sweetheart."

Celeste lifted the aquarium's lid, emptied the jar and closed the lid.

Inside the glass aquarium, an oriental cockroach landed hard on top a flat aluminum plate filled of bones and insects' carcasses. He got up dizzy and shaking his head, and while dusting off his clothes, he said, "Where am I?"

Diablo, a black scorpion, with braided, long, black fuzzy, large red pincers and a stinger bright red like blood, moved from a very large hollow log toward the cockroach, shouting, "All right! Food! Delicious Food!"

The oriental cockroach watched Diablo's approach in despair, "Stay away from me!" He then began to show some martial art moves, "Yiia! Kia! Kia! I know karate!"

Diablo stopped advancing, and made sounds in the air with his huge pincers, "I know judo," he mocks a smile, "judon't know what is going to hit you."

And fast as lightning, Diablo lifted the cockroach with his pincers and unloaded his stinger in the cockroach's thorax without pity. With the help of the sunlight that was piercing the great arched windows, Diablo's golden jaw shone when he laughed evilly as the cockroach's scream bounced on the aquarium's glass walls.

CHAPTER 2

Margaret fixed her bed made out of flower pollens and petals. Then she sat on it, opened her gold half-locket and looked at Bob's picture.

With tearful eyes, Margaret caressed her husband's picture, murmuring, "My Bob." She then looked around the bedroom in concern, and got up from the bed calling, "Puchito! Where are you, Puchito?"

Margaret rushed out of her bedroom, calling her son's name. She looked inside Puchito's room, noticing that he wasn't there, and then she peeped everywhere and continued calling Puchito's name inside the other rooms, but there was no answer.

Behind a lily plant, outside the glistening rock, Puchito held a dry dandelion, saying, "This looks very strange." He poked it with one of his claws, watching a few seeds falling gently on the ground. "Wow!"

He blew on the dry flower, and then he laughed, watching the seeds being spread all over the place by the wind. Suddenly, Margaret came out of the rock agitated, looking in all directions

"Puchito! Puchito! Where are you, son?"

Margaret's desperate call alerted Puchito, who stopped laughing, and answered, "Over here, Mommy! Over here!"

Margaret saw her son coming out from behind the lily plant, tossing more of the dry dandelion's seeds into the air.

"Don't scare me that way, Puchito!" Margaret rushed toward him. "You shouldn't be out the house without my supervision!"

"I am sorry, Mommy."

She hugged him, and then whispered into his ear, "Puchito, next time let me know that you are going to be outside the rock, please."

Puchito nodded, and lowering his head, he said in a soft voice, "I am sorry, Mommy."

"Wow!" Margaret looked at Puchito's dirty claws, and then his entire body, "Just look at you! You are a mess!"

Puchito pointed to the nearby dense vegetation, saying, "Let's play over-there, Mommy!"

Margaret shook her head nervously, and pulled her son, "Come on, let's go inside the house."

"But… Mommy!" Puchito resisted, "I want to play some more!"

"But, nothing!" Margaret, noticing that the afternoon was approaching fast, she urged, "Don't argue with me, Puchito!"

"I want -"

"¡Nothing!" Margaret pointed to the rock, "Let's go inside the house so I can give you a good bath!"

Margaret saw Puchito angry, from the corner of her eye, and smiled, as she forced him to walk toward the rock's wide entrance. They went inside, and moments later, the night wrapped everything in The Paradise with its full moon and its millions of stars.

Inside the glistening rock, Margaret and Puchito's laughs floated out of the wide opening in the golden rock. Once free of the rock, the laughs echoed and danced on the soft wind that caressed the garden's foliage.

Margaret stopped laughing, and held a pollen soaked with soap, "Come on, Puchito!"

"No!"

Margarita grabbed her son's foreleg, "Let me bathe and rinse you with this pollen!"

"No!"

She began to struggle with him. "Please, be still!"

"Mommy, it's impossible!"

"Come on, Puchito!"

"You are tickling me, Mommy!"

Puchito, giggling, pushed away the pollen that his mother placed over his head.

"Stay still, son!"

Puchito stopped giggling, "Besides, I can bathe myself… I am not a larva anymore."

"You don't have to tell me that, Puchito," Margaret said sweetly while pinching and tickling her son's abdomen.

"Please, no!" Puchito said with laughter, "Mommy, no!"

With his fine, delicate forelegs, he removed the foam that covered his head and tossed it into the air. The soap bubbles scattered out of the rock, finding their way through the holes, and were carried far away by the whistling, wandering wind.

The fragrant dew of the irises, accompanied by a small waterfall, drifted down from the highest part of the stone. Puchito reached out, taking his mother by surprise, and splashed the fragrant water onto her body.

"Puchito, no!"

"Now you see!" He caressed her jaws mischievously, "You, too, have been perfumed."

Margarita dried the water off her body with her forelegs, "Oh, Puchito!"

"It seems that we have given ourselves the bath of the year, so we will not have to bathe for another year—right, Mommy?"

"So you want to play!" Margaret threw more pollen at his son, "Good! Now what does this feel like?"

They laughed as they struck one another playfully with the pollen. Then, they both sneezed strongly, and continued splashing the perfumed water all over.

Puchito stopped laughing and sneezing, and said aloud, "Enough, Mommy! Enough!"

"That's what I like, Puchito, for you to be very clean before sitting down to eat," Margaret pulled his ear gently.

"Mommy, can you give me a voice lesson before I eat?"

Margaret smiled and nodded. To dry him, she wrapped Puchito's delicate body with rose petals. Then, she gently ran her claws through her son's short, black fuzzy, kissed him on the head and quickly tickled him on the sides of the thorax.

Outside, the echoes of their laughter continued to scatter among the greenery, spreading the sounds of happiness throughout The Paradise on that starry, fresh, late spring night.

Time passed quietly. The full moon began to illuminate the great gilded rock, awakening its magic sparkle and sending gentle moonbeams through the rock's great holes.

In Margaret's bedroom, Puchito, next to his mother, looked at some musical notes written on some leaves, sitting on the bed made of white iris petals.

Margaret kissed Puchito's head, and then she asked, "Ready for your voice lessons, son?"

Puchito nodded, and smiled. He walked in front of her, and started with breathing exercises and abdominal muscles contractions. Margaret smiled, because he looked constipated.

Margaret looked at Puchito as he began to turn red, and she poked Puchito's abdomen with her foreleg. Then, Puchito exhaled completely, and held it. He turned red once again as Margaret giggled.

Margaret stopped giggling, and while messing up her son's wavy fuzzy, she said, "And relax." She gently pulled one of his antennae, suggesting, "Good, now let's work on facial expressions."

"Don't you like my face, Mommy?"

Margaret smiled, and then she said, "Why did you ask me that, son?" She grabbed him by his forelegs, and added sadly, "It reminds me of your father."

Puchito, with a broken voice, said, "My dad."

Margaret composed herself, and looking at his son's green eyes, she advised, "Puchito, singing is about projecting… and I want you to sing, laaaaaaaaaa… and don't forget to project."

Puchito nodded, and after clearing his throat and inhaling, he sang, "laaaaaaaaaaa."

Margaret began to play music with the help of roots hanging from the rock's ceiling, and mimicking Puchito's mouth movements, she nodded.

Moments later, in the dinning room, Margaret was serving chunks of bread and vegetables on a circular stone table, placing them on fresh iris petals. Puchito stopped eating, and looked straight into her dark eyes, "Mommy…"

"What, son?"

"Why did you and my dad name me, Puchito?"

"Because you were our only son that survived." Margaret, with tearful eyes, looked at him, "And for Bob and I, your name means a good soul that can defeat any obstacles in life."

"Thanks for taking care of me, Mommy." Puchito looked at her tenderly, "I love you so much."

The moonbeams that were penetrating one of the rock's holes lit his wet green eyes.

Margaret clutched him against her, kissing his head. "Oh, Puchito, son of my soul." She then whispered to him, "I also love you a lot, a lot, a lot."

"You'll never leave me, right?" He lifted his head to watch her response.

"Why are you asking me that, son?"

"I just wanted to know."

"Will you leave me, son?" Margaret held Puchito's jaw.

Puchito inhaled deeply, and then he answered, "Maybe if I have to look for our happiness."

"Our happiness?" Margaret looked at him in concern. "But I am happy with you, son! What do you mean?"

"Please, Mommy, answer my question."

Margaret smiled, and after kissing him on his claws, she answered, "Never, Puchito, I promise."

Margaret lulled her son between her forelegs, and Puchito sighed with a smile. Then, in a very playful move, he jumped away from her and began to strut, passing his forelegs through his curly fuzzy.

"Just look at me, Mommy!"

"What are you doing?" Margaret asked, placing her forelegs on the side of her abdomen.

"I am so very clean." Puchito inhaled the fragrance of one of his delicate forelegs, and then he yelled, "What am I saying?… I 'm super clean!"

"You see, Puchito," Margaret pointed one of her thin front claws at him, "what a delicious aroma your body has now."

"I like the lilies' aroma a lot!"

"That's the way I always want to see you—very clean."

"I know, I know," he embraced his mother tightly, and then sat down next to her, "but you always tickle me when you bathe me, Mommy."

"I'm not guilty of that, son."

"Yes, you are, Mommy!" Puchito said seriously.

Margaret pinched him on his thorax sides, making him jump and laugh. "You see! You are too ticklish!"

Puchito stopped laughing, and began to flex one of his forelegs. "Mommy, look at my muscles."

"I see!" Margaret touched Puchito's foreleg with her claw, "It feels strong!"

"And I feel very strong, Mommy!"

Margarita pointed toward pieces of bread, and vegetables served on the petals, "Now you must continue to eat so you grow up even stronger, son."

Puchito and Margaret walked to the table, and they began to eat the bread and vegetables. For a moment, they looked at the rock's holes pierced by moonlight, listening in complete silence to the strange noises coming from The Paradise.

Later, after a good dinner, in Margaret's room, Puchito saw his mother walking toward a corner. She reached into it and pulled out carefully some dry petals.

"What are those, Mommy?"

Margaret took note of the letters and musical symbols on the petals, and after sighing, she answered, "Those are the good memories your dad left me." She showed the petals to Puchito, adding, "In each petal he wrote all the love he felt for me, and for you, too, before you were born"

Puchito murmured, "Dad."

Margaret placed the petals on top of the bed, and pulling out some clothes from the corner, she suggested, "Here, I have this for you, son." She saw Puchito approaching, and offered the garment to him. "Put on this white shirt, this black bow tie, and this purple full-tail suit."

Puchito reverently took the clothes in his forelegs, but for a moment his attention remained fixed on the musical notes emblazoned on the petals. "I can sing that!"

"I know you can, son." Margaret helped put on the shirt.

Puchito tried on the jacket, "Where did these clothes come from?" He gazed at his mother, "They are too big for me."

"I know, son, I know." A quiet smile graced her fine palps. "That full tail suit was your dad's favorite."

"My dad's favorite suit?" Puchito blurted out the question.

"Yes, son, that suit belonged to him." Margaret fixed the collar of Puchito's shirt, "He wore it on the nights he went to The Paradise to sing."

Gently, Puchito caressed the suit between his small claws. The purple color of the tail suit, the white shirt, and the black bow tie brought magic to his green eyes, making them spark even more. A moonbeam slipped through one of the holes into the stone, and illuminated him from the tip of his black shoes to the top of his head. He felt as if he were on stage.

"How do I look, Mommy?" He pushed up the jacket's sleeves. "The shoes are the only thing that fit."

"You look divine!" Her voice stuck in her throat.

"Really?"

Margaret nodded, "Puchito, you look just like your dad." She pointed to her son's shoes, "Even down to your tiny feet of your jumping legs."

The moonbeams moved from Puchito's body. Now he could see tears leaving her dark eyes, and he shyly began to said, "Mommy…"

"What, Puchito?" Margaret asked peering serenely into his eyes. For a moment silence filled the rock; it seemed to be eternal. At last she asked again, "What is it, son? I know that you have something on your mind."

"You know?"

Margaret nodded, "There has never been any secrets between us."

Puchito moved his thin forelegs nervously and an anxious smile formed on his palps. "Mommy, tell me about my dad."

Margaret caressed Puchito's short antennae, and smiled. Then she sighed, and closing her eyes, she said, "He was very intelligent, wonderful and handsome! A great, and famous singer, Puchito!"

"Wow! My dad!" Puchito looked proudly at his mother, "A great singer!"

"Indeed, many came from far away to hear him sing," Margaret sighed one more time, and then she continued saying, "I gave him voice lessons."

"Wow! Many came to see him!" Puchito sat next to her. "And you gave him voice lessons?"

Margaret nodded, "That was how I met him."

"Wow!" Puchito held one of his mother's claws.

"He was a good soul, and much loved by everyone in The Paradise." Margaret opened her eyes, and pointed to her son's thorax, "He would have been very proud of you, Puchito."

Puchito leaned his head against Margaret's thorax, "Mommy, what happened to my dad?"

Margaret fixed Puchito's jacket, "I don't know, Puchito." She then pinched him tenderly on one of his antennae, "His disappearance is still a mystery."

"Did you ever look for him?"

Margaret nodded, tears in her eyes, and hugging Puchito, they both shared a sad tear.

She dried off Puchito's tear with her claw, saying, "You too miss him a lot."

Puchito nodded, and looking at her, he said, "Mommy, lately I have had several dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"You know, Mommy… dreams."

"We all dream in life, son." She embraced him tighter, "To dream is part of life."

"It's just that in these dreams..." Puchito tried to hide the dampness in his eyes from his mother. "In my dreams, I always see my dad alone."

"Really?" Margaret passed her claws on her son's wings.

Puchito nodded, "We talk about the things that I've always wanted to do in life."

Margaret smiled and caressed his wavy fuzzy tenderly, and then she said, "Before you were born, when I was waiting for you, he used to imagine what you were going to be like." She sighed, and then she continued saying, "I often dreamed of you two doing many things together…like singing together at The Charca Club."

"I would have loved to meet him," Puchito said to himself, bowing his head gravely.

Margaret lifted his head by the jaw, and looked straight into his eyes. "Come on, Puchito, don't think about that anymore." She blinked her long eyelashes, making him smile. "Tonight, I will take you for a walk through the garden."

"All right, Mommy! I love you so much!" He exclaimed brightly.

Margaret watched his happy expression grow as he began to jump. She followed him, watching him bouncing between the rock's corners until reaching the kitchen.

"Control yourself, Puchito! Control yourself! You'll destroy the house…" Margaret cleared away the bread crumbs, vegetables and iris petals. "Soon you'll have enough time to learn each corner of The Paradise."

"Hooray! Hooray!" Puchito continued jumping.

"Puchito!" Margaret looked at him seriously, "You must promise me one thing."

Puchito stopped jumping. "What, Mommy? What must I promise?"

Margaret took him by the side of his small wings, "When we're outside…" she then arranged the neck of his jacket, "I don't want you stray away from me at any time."

"At any time?" Puchito asked, shaking his head.

"You must always stay by my side, son."

"Why?"

"It's been a long time since I last went out to the garden." She passed her small claws through her son's wavy fuzzy. "I don't know if it has changed since then."

"Mommy, I'll do as you say."

"Promise?" Margaret looked at him in the eyes.

Puchito placed his right claw on the left side of his thorax, "I promise that I'll stay by your side, Mommy."

Margaret smiled, and his answer seemed to calm her. Then, pinching one of his forelegs tenderly, she said, "Before we leave, you must help me tidy up the house."

"Now?"

She fondly grasped one of his antennae, gave him a soft slap on the rear of his abdomen, putting him to work at once. "Let's go, son!"

"Okay, as you wish, Mommy!"

"Ah! And take off your dad's clothes before you stain them," Margaret pointed toward one of the corners of her bedroom. "Place them over there, someday soon you'll be able to wear them well."

"I can't wait, Mommy!" He said happily. "Oh, I cant' wait!"

Puchito carefully folded his dad's clothes, and put them away. Then, he began to read the musical notes written on the petals that were on top of Margaret's bed. His green eyes devoured the meaning of each one and his fine palps formed a smile.

Soon, the house cleaning was complete. Everything looked very well organized and shiny.

Puchito began to fidget as he waited near the great hole that served as the rock's door. "Mommy, hurry up, and don't use so much make-up!"

"Be patient!"

"Let's go!" He was ready to leave. "You are already beautiful!"

"Thanks for the compliment, son." Margaret said, admiring her reflection in the water that was running along one of the walls of her bathroom that was illuminated by the light of a candle. "After all, we have all night to walk through the garden."

"Let's go, Mommy!" Margaret smiled as she colored her palps with the pollen of a red rose, listening to Puchito's voice, "I really mean it…you are already beautiful, Mommy!"

"All right! All right!" Margaret walked out the washroom.

Puchito left the rock, almost dragging his mother behind him. "I want to see all the things that The Paradise has!"

"Calm down, son! Be patient!"

"Wow!" He held his mother's claws firmly as his eyes opened wide with surprise, looking at The Paradise's immense and enigmatic beauty.

Seeing him excited, Margaret asked, "What do you think, son?"

Puchito answered softly, "Everything, everything is so beautiful, Mommy." He unbuttoned his jacket, adding, "It's hot."

"It's nearly summer, Puchito." Margaret pointed to the starry sky, "Soon the rains will come to refresh it all."

"I understand."

Margaret looked at the sky, and after sighing, she said to herself, "if you were just by my side."

They were walking peacefully through the splendid oasis. The moonbeams—it was a brilliant full moon— illuminated everything with intense clarity. Suddenly, Puchito, thrilled by the surroundings, began to jump for joy. As he jumped, the leaves and the colorful flowers gave up their scent. For an instant, he stopped and looked thoughtfully at his mother, who was staring at the immense clear and starry sky.

"Something wrong, Mommy?" Puchito asked worried from a flower.

Margaret kept her eyes on the distant diamonds, asking, "Do you like the stars, Puchito?"

"Yes, Mommy! They are incredible!" Puchito looked at the sky, and smiled.

Margaret followed the trajectory of few shooting stars, and after sighing, she said, "It's been a long time since I last saw the stars. You know, son, many say that when the good die on earth, they become brilliant stars that adorn the sky so they might inspire other good persons to follow them."

The luminous stars in Puchito's eyes were shining. "Everything is so very beautiful, Mommy."

Margaret nodded, "Very beautiful."

Puchito murmured to himself, "One of them is probably my dad."

"You're right, son, perhaps he is above us now, shining on us and taking care of us."

Puchito leapt from a flower to the wide glade where his mother stood. He embraced her, and together they saw that everything that surrounded them had a strange and magical enchantment. He breathed in the oasis's absolute tranquillity and peace. It made him feel deeply happy, so very happy that he began to sing "Let's Dance of Happiness," in a clear and confident voice.

LEST"S DANCE OF HAPPINESS

I

I am one more in this life.

I am another dreamer.

I bring music to all,

And happiness to the soul.

Voices joined in the chorus from behind some bushes, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Puchito smiled, and then he continued singing.

II

Let's dance until dawn,

Bringing love to life.

Let's go forward,

Although we cry.

Once again, the voices joined in chorus, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

The music was exciting, Puchito hugged his mother, and continued the song.

III

Let's all dance!

Let's clap our hands!

Let's move our waists,

Without rest.

Puchito joined the chorus. "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Puchito winked at his mother, and continued singing

IV

Let's dance!

Let's share happiness!

Life isn't life

If we don't live it day and night.

Puchito and Margaret finished the song together, "Let's all dream! Let's all dance!"

Without warning, the branches cracked behind them. "Hush, Puchito!" Taking him by a foreleg, she whispered concerned, "Quiet… be very quiet."

The mother's warning arrived too late. Suddenly, through the dense green foliage, yellowish eyes began to shine. It was as if thousands of sparks from vigilant fire stars were staring at them. Once again, the branches cracked behind them, warning them of possible danger.

"What's that noise, Mommy?" Puchito looked at his surroundings.

"Hurry, Puchito. Hurry!" Margaret pulled Puchito to her thorax, protectively, and closed her eyes, whispering, "Stay by my side, son. Don't move, and don't make any noise."

Puchito's eyes darted back and forth in the dark night, trying to discover who was silently spying behind their backs. His mother kept her eyes closed tightly. The branches cracked again, this time louder, closer. The full moon made the stars dancing in the sky, as it crept timidly behind some clouds, barely illuminating the clearing where they stood. Yet, in between some shrubbery, a slowly moving shadow could be seen. It produced a noisy crunch as it moved over the dry leaves resting on the fresh grass.

"I don't like that noise, Mommy."

"Be quiet, son." She opened her eyes slowly and looked carefully at their surroundings.

"Who's there?" Puchito's voice was both nervous and defiant.

"Don't say a word, son." Margaret squinted, trying to see beyond the darkness.

"If you dare do anything to my Mommy!" Puchito showed his claws, "I swear you'll regret it!"

"Be quiet, Puchito." Margaret whispered in his ear.

The entire place was wrapped in a heavy, extended silence. Suddenly, the moonlight in the clearing was disturbed. A gigantic shadow covered the distance. From behind the shrubbery, passing only slightly above their heads, a fine stream of breath streaked through the air.

As Margaret and Puchito closed their eyes in panic, the newcomer fell heavily in front of them. The whistling wind joined the newcomer's heavy breathing, while some birds flew afraid into the deepest part of the garden.

"Ay!" Margaret screamed, holding Puchito tightly.

Puchito, without opening his eyes, shouted, "Don't worry, Mommy, I'll defend you!" He began to fight, throwing blows into the air. "I won't let anybody hurt you!"

The stranger laughed, and his laugh lumbered through the dense greenery of the beautiful courtyard. More birds flew afraid, seeking refuge on the trees' top branches.

The newcomer stopped laughing, and in a serious and very deep voice, he said, "Then, little cricket, you better open your eyes."

Margaret, with her eyes closed, was struggling with Puchito, holding him tight. "Puchito, don't be crazy!"

"¡Yes, Puchito, don't be crazy!" The newcomer pointed to Margaret, "Listen to her."

"Please, stranger!" Margaret hid Puchito behind her back, "Don't listen to him… he is still young!"

"Don't worry, Mommy, I promise, nothing will happen to you!"

"Stay by my side, Puchito, please!"

As Puchito slowly opened his eyes, he peeked from behind Margaret's back. He stopped punching the air, and shouted, "Ah!"

"Ah!" The newcomer imitated Puchito's shout, and then he began to laugh.

The laugh of the newcomer filled the warm night, seeming to multiply among the foliage.

"No, Puchito! No!" Margaret held her son against her.

Puchito stared, open-mouthed and astonished at the newcomer. The moonlight focused on the huge intruder, unmasking him completely. Perplexed, and swallowing hard, Puchito tried to form words, until he finally shouted, "Oh, my! It's a monster, Mommy! A gigantic monster! And it's covered with mud!"

The newcomer stopped laughing, "A monster? And covered in mud!"

Puchito closed his eyes again, and he began to throw blows into the air. "Get out! Get out of here, monster!"

Margaret struggled with her son, "Puchito, please, be quiet!" She, afraid to open her eyes, pleaded, "Please stranger, don't hurt us."

"I would never hurt someone that knows how to sing, and is so brave." The newcomer spoke in a deep and reassuring voice. "Please... don't be frightened. I'm Sam. I, too, live in The Paradise."

"I am afraid, Mommy!" Puchito said, hugging Margaret.

Puchito and Margaret began to slowly open their eyes, but when they saw the newcomer's grotesque figure in front of them; their mouths fell open, amazed that they were still alive.

"Please, tell me, who are you?" Sam insisted.

Puchito and Margaret gazed in amazement at the gigantic and very fat toad. He was thoroughly covered with mud, but in spite of his grotesque looks he continued to watch them with a friendly gaze.

Stammering, Margaret spoke, "I... I am Margaret, and this is Puchito, my son. Forgive us if his singing woke you. We were already on our way home."

"Home!" Puchito exclaimed. "Mommy, we just left home."

A wide smile filled Sam's gigantic mouth. "On the contrary, Margaret, the song did not annoy me at all." The giant toad looked at Puchito, "That's why I came out to meet you, to admire more closely one whose voice is so prodigious."

"Really, Giant Sam!" Puchito said amazed.

Sam nodded, saying, "Puchito, every night, I have an Amateur Night at The Charca Club." He pointed at Puchito's thorax, "You're welcome to sing with the band 'Sounds of Paradise.'"

"Wow!" Puchito looked at Margarita. "Did you hear that, Mommy! I am invited to sing with the band 'Sounds of Paradise!"

Margaret saw Sam focusing on Puchito, and shook her head. "No way!"

Sam cleared his throat, and then said, "But -"

Margaret raised her forelegs, "Giant Sam!" She pointed to Puchito, "He's… he's far too young,

Sam looked and pointed to the sky, "Just watch for a message… I'll let you know, Puchito." He then looked at Margaret, "And please call me 'Sam'."

"Giant Sam, Puchito is too young," Margaret said seriously.

"Nonsense!" Sam tapped gently on Margaret's claws. "And please, I will feel better if you call me 'Sam'."

"Please, Mommy!" Puchito held Margaret by the skirt, "If Sam says that I can sing… he must know… isn't that true, Sam?"

Sam nodded and leaned next to Puchito, "Hum! In fact… you remind me of the long lost friend of mine, and a great singer, named Bob."

"Bob!?" Mother and son exchanged surprised looks as Margaret continued, "Bob was my husband. Puchito's—"

The moon began to illuminate again the clearing, and Margaret noticed surprise and happiness on the giant toad behavior as he snapped his toes.

"Margaret!? Yes, yes… Bob spoke so much about you when we met at The Charca Club."

"So you are 'the vegetarian'… I mean the Sam that used to call for my husband to go singing at nights."

The giant toad nodded, placing his forefoot on his chest, "That's me!"

Margaret looked straight into Sam's bulging eyes. "Did Bob talk about me at The Charca Club."

Sam laughed, and then stopped, answering, "Of course! He used to tell me that you are… well, were the love of his life… ah, what a tragedy."

"Then you know what happened?" Tears came to Margaret's eyes.

Sam placed his gigantic forefoot on Margaret's wings, trying to console her. "Bob was right. On one occasion he told me he was very proud to have met you, and that you were beautiful—What am I saying?" He winked an eye at Puchito, "The most beautiful female cricket in the world!"

Puchito pulled the gigantic toad by the dirty shirt, and looked at him serious. "Sam, you haven't answered my Mommy's question."

"What question, Puchito?"

He looked at Sam, "What happened to my dad?"

"Well… It was all very confusing." Sam hesitated, scratching his head. "Even though some years have passed, what happened is still a topic of conversation. I believe Bob was abducted by… by -"

"By whom!" Puchito and Margaret called at the same time.

Sam looked at them, "By aliens."

"Aliens?" Margaret and Puchito exclaimed simultaneously, placing their claws over their open mouths in amazement.

Sam looked at the starry sky. "Yes, aliens! Bob and I were singing one night at The Charca Club, when a huge bright light came toward us. It blinded us. We were petrified." He began to tremble, looking afraid, and pointing in all directions, adding, "The branches cracked, the ground shook. Everybody was screaming and running by. Suddenly, the light went off. Then, a deep silence, and when I turned to see Bob, he… he was gone…but I saw strange formations on the ground…I think when they landed."

A deep silence was covering that dusty clearing as Margaret and Puchito held claws, keeping their mouths open in shock.

Margaret's sobs broke the deep silence as Puchito hugged her, saying, "I wish I had met my dad." He turned wistfully to watch the brilliant stars in the cloudless sky, where the full moon's beams were softly lighting the warm night, adding in a sweet voice, "My dad."

Standing in the clearing, they could distinguish each one of the thousands of residents, and tourists, which with their happy hustle, they were filling nature and the sky with life.

Puchito grew quieter, and after learning a little more about Sam, he slowly moved away from his mother's side. Soon he was hopping off to play with the fireflies that shone like lanterns between the tree leaves.

"Puchito, come back!" Margaret called, and watching him looking at her, she advised, "Remember what you promised me at home! Don't jump so high, son! You might hurt yourself!"

"Let him go, Margaret. Let him play and make friends." Sam took Margaret by one of her forelegs, "Besides, on this side of The Paradise you could say that it's almost peaceful."

Margaret turned to Sam, asking anxiously, "'Almost peaceful?'…What do you mean, Sam?"

"Well," he scratched his head, a little confused, and then he made quotations with his forefeet, "'Dark Shadow'."

"'Dark Shadow'?" Margaret quoted back with her forelegs.

Sam nodded, "I hope he has already left this side of The Paradise…I don't know too much about him, because I don't go out too often since Bob's disappearance."

"Who is 'Dark Shadow'?" Margaret fidgeted, waiting for a prompt response.

"Oh, Dark Shadow!" Sam tried to stay calm and not add to her worry. "Dark Shadow's just a bat."

"A bat!" Margaret, afraid, placed her forelegs over her head.

"Calm down, Margaret." Sam tapped her on her claw, "Dark Shadow is almost blind and mute. He appeared a few months ago around this courtyard. He terrifies us all with his yells."

"And you are telling me to calm down!"

Sam nodded, "When visitors, here on vacation from other places, hear him at night or see him flying, they become frightened and leave the following day." He looked at the sky, adding in a calm voice, "Some say Dark Shadow has murdered several of our dwellers, but I'm not sure this is true… don't you worry, Margaret."

Margaret looked toward the flowering shrubbery where Puchito was playing, and asked in a shaky voice, "Why don't you want me to worry?"

"Because it's been a long time since we last saw him." Trying to calm her, Sam continued, "Dark Shadow thinks that this oasis is uninhabited."

"Why?"

"We used to hide and keep quiet when we saw him around." Sam pointed at the deepest part of the forest, "And then, one day, he flew away, frustrated."

The moon's soft beams gently lit the beauty of the clearing. They also softly lit the colorful sunflowers where Puchito was playing with his new friends.

Margaret looked again at her son, and the preoccupation in her voice was clear. "But Sam, it means that there is still danger and the possibility that the bat may reappear here."

"I don't think so, Margaret." He tempered the serious tone with a happy expression. "Don't worry, as I mentioned, Dark Shadow has not been seen around here for a long time. I think he got tired of patrolling this area, and took his flight some place else."

Margaret smiled, but her anxiety and instinct could be seen in her beautiful dark eyes and forelegs, which moved nervously. She, from the wide clearing, was trying to distinguish Puchito from those who were surrounding him and sitting on mushrooms.

"Margaret! Margaret, is that you?" A voice called from a beautiful, flower-filled sunset rosebush.

Margaret and Sam turned in the direction of the voice, trying to see who was coming down the thorny sunset rosebush.

"Who is it?" Margaret asked.

As Margaret peered at one of the branches of a rose plant, her anxiety lessened. She saw a beautiful queenly rich and thin mantis, moving down slowly through a rosebush's leaves and long thorns.

"It's me, Natalie!"

"Natalie!" Margaret's eyes opened in surprise, "It has been such a long time!"

"I'm so happy to see you!" Natalie lifted the dust from the ground as she rushed toward Margaret, "You look fabulous!"

"You, too!" Margaret hugged Natalie.

Natalie touched Margaret's fuzzy, "I miss coloring your hair, and Bob's!"

"That's right! He loved the way you colored his hair!" Margaret said brightly, and then added in a sad whisper, "My Bob."

Natalie bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Margaret."

Sam cleared his throat, and pointing to Margaret, he said, "She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she, Natalie?"

"I can't agree more!" Natalie answered very happy.

Sam pointed near the petunias, where Puchito was playing, "Her son inherited it, and his dad's voice as well."

Natalie held Margaret by one foreleg, "No doubt!"

"I would've liked for you to have heard him just a few moments ago, Natalie." Sam looked proudly at Margaret, "The melody—his voice—angelic. It was like a clear stream of water running quietly toward the sea; like a magic flute beginning to awake the flowers' colors again here in The Paradise."

"Come on, Sam!" Margaret blushed. "Stop it; really, that's enough flattery!"

"Margaret, Margaret, Margaret." Sam looked in Puchito's direction by the sunflowers, "I know about music and singing. I was educated by the best."

"That is true!" Natalie assured.

"What's more, Margaret!" Sam said proudly, "Your husband, Bob, made a professional and perfectionist out of me!"

"Are you listening to him, friend?" Natalie winked at Margaret.

"Hum hum," Margaret grumbled playfully, nodding.

Sam saw them giggling, "Believe me when I tell you that Puchito has a lot of talent!" He nodded at Margaret, "He has an extraordinary voice— it takes only a few seconds to know that!"

Copyright ã 1998. (Txu847-471) Alfonso Segovia. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner including electronic and computer media whatsoever without express written permission from Alfonso Segovia.


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